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21.54 Our match report is now with you. Disappointing evening for Arsenal, who were taught a lesson in how slackening of pace at this level will generally be exposed. Dortmund hung in there, but looked a long way from the elite performances we've seen from the team that beat them in this competition's final in May. That'll be all from this liveblog, thanks for your company, I'll talk to you again soon.

I think it's harsh. We gave the ball away, and we know they are good on the counter attack. We kept them very quiet. I haven't seen the Lewandowski incident, but there's nothing we can do now. It's going to be tough, we knew it was probably the toughest group in the Champions League but we still think we can go through. I think we played some really good stuff and didn't deserve to lose the game.

21.38 Here's the elbow on Laurent Koscielny which Robert Lewandowski got away with booked for:

21.35 It turns out that playing Borussia Dortmund is quite different to playing Norwich City. Hard to see Arsenal as anything other than flat-track bullies on that evidence. They weren't bad, but the scintillating football they've been playing in the league was almost entirely absent, and they looked mentally ill-equipped to seize the game in the second half, and do anything other than roll over and surrender following Dortmund's winner.

FULL TIME

90+3 min Arsenal have managed to create a big fat nothing since Dortmund took the lead. We're into the final minute of time added on. The home side have the ball... Arteta's shot from 25 yards is blocked by Subotic. And that'll be all.

90 min Dortmund keeping the ball in the corners. Arsenal doing silly, wasteful things when they get it back.

89 min Last Arsenal sub, Gnarbry is on for Rosicky. Gnarby trots onto the pitch like some dice that are being rolled for the final time.

87 min Reus off for Sokratis in Dortmund's final change. Meanwhile, in more amusing developments, Nicklas Bendtner is on for Aaron Ramsey, and he's made his hair look like Zlatan Ibrahimovic's with predictably harrowing results.

86 min Lovely free kick from Reus. Disguised cross, but he's looking for the far corner. Koscielny heads it away from almost under his crossbar. Henry Winter on what looks like being the winning goal:

<noframe>Twitter: Henry Winter - What a goal from <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23bvb" target="_blank">#bvb</a>. Quick counter. Grosskreutz cross. Emphatic finish from Lewandowski (who could have been off for an elbow)</noframe>

85 min Hoffman nearly finds Reus with a reverse pass close to the box. Mertesacker just about cuts it out. Özil booked for a poor tackle on Hummels not far from the Arsenal corner flag and some dissent.

82 min GOAL!! Arsenal 1 Dortmund 2 (Lewandowski) Deary me. Just as the game looked to be piddling away, Arsenal are caught severely lacking on the break. It's perennial overlapper Grosskreutz involved again, playing a perfectly-placed cross from the right to the somehow unmarked Lewandowski, who's drifted into the area from the left with Sagna and Mertesacker inexplicably absent. Beautiful finish, stroking a volley past Szczesny on his near post.

78 min Heavy rain over the stadium now. Cazorla darts across goal and beats two men, but his final shot is blocked. He's pulling 100% of the strings. Still enjoying the catastrophe which Wiedenfeller and Subotic took part in ahead of the Arsenal goal:

Another proud entry for footballerswiththeireyesclosed.tumblr.com?

75 min It's gone a bit quiet I'm afraid. I'm beginning to think this has been quite an impressive Arsenal performance. They've looked demonstrably better than Dortmund for much of this second half. I do not think this would have been the case this time last year.

71 min Aubameyang giving Arsenal something to think about via the medium of exceptional pace. He breaks down the right-hand flank at terrific speed. Arteta's there with a well-judged sliding tackle to snuff out the danger.

70 min Sven Bender is booked for having a name that makes schoolchildren giggle. Also for a foul, I reckon.

69 min Cazorla hits the bar! Superb flowing Arsenal move, and a wicked-hard shot towards the top corner while he's still on the move. Weidenfeller beaten, but it's back off the woodwork. Arsenal coming to the boil at the correct time. Here's a happy Olivier Giroud, earlier:

66 min The stupid big flags Arsenal have decided to make ballboys hold behind their goals are briefly waved after Ramsey knocks a cleared Mertesacker header from a corner into the net. There's been a foul, says the referee. Perhaps some obstruction from Koscielny.

64 min Lewandowski catches Koscielny with an elbow! Oof, that is deeply naughty from the Pole. Right in the chin. No real way to tell if it was intentional, but it didn't look entirely accidental either. Koscielny makes nothing of it and Lewandowski escapes with a puzzling booking.

63 min Cazorla doing a wonderful brightening act on Arsenal. He's made them suddenly capable of stretching Dortmund at the back, and pops a low ball in after running at Grosskreutz. Too close to Weidenfeller.

61 min Arsenal do a short corner and are forced backwards. Rosicky humps it vaguely back in the direction of goal. It's behind for a goal kick.

58 min Predictably, Wilshere is the man who makes way for Santi Cazorla. Come on, Santi. Make this more interesting.

56 min Well-weighted ball by Mkhitaryan to find the tireless Grosskeurtz overlapping in the box. He's caught in two minds between cross and shot. He opts for a crot. It's a simple take for Szczesny. Cazorla, thankfully, is being readied by the Arsenal tracksuit top department.

55 min I've just made this noise with my mouth at a poor Wilshere cross from the left: "Pffffffffbrlrlrlrbrbrbrfffffff." I stand by it. Easy for Weidenfeller. Arsenal looking worringly limp again.

54 min Lewandowski pokes it forward for Reus in the area. Koscielny is determined to hold him off and usher it behind for a goal kick. Risky, as Reus looks dead keen to nick the ball off him as he did to Ramsey for the opening goal. He commits a foul instead this time. Don't let it be said that Marco Reus is a limited player. Here's Olivier Giroud LASHING the ball home with feeling for the equaliser:

52 min Precious Jack Wilshere is still on, incidentally. He's playing more centrally now, with Özil shifted out to the right. Not that it's making much difference. Still mostly Dortmund on the ball.

50 min Second half pattern is much the same as the start of the first half. Mostly Dortmund on the ball, but there's a sense they're content to keep their game quite contained now, rather than simmering with attacking intent. A brief update from the other side from Jonathan Liew:

<noframe>Twitter: Jonathan Liew - IT'S JUST CAKE</noframe>

48 min Great sliding tackle from Gibbs on Grosskreutz, who received the ball in the box close to the byline. Dortmund corner, nothing comes from it. This evening's most entertaining subplot has been regular updates on what the touchline-banned Jurgen Klopp is up to. Here he is relaxing at half time in the nine star restaurant with a minituare sandwich and expensive cup of tea:

46 min Here comes a second half. Dortmund get us started via a fan-owned kick off.

20.32 Isn't football enjoyable when it seems fair? Arsenal were punished for a lax start, then got back into it when their best player's determination gave him an unmissable chance, which he hit VERY VERY HARD into the net. Arsenal need to assert themselves more when off the ball, and hope that Wilshere isn't as crocked as he initially looked. Dortmund need more from their nominal wide men Reus and Blaszczykowski. See you in 15.

HALF TIME

45 min Dortmund not showing a whole lot of their sexy hipster football at the moment. Doomed long shots and hopeful balls forward for Lewandowski. Not much for the home side to worry about. If you feel like starting a Tumblr called "Footballers with their eyes closed" and using this picture of Koscielny, Lewandowski and Mertesacker as your template, then go right ahead:

43 min Dortmund's hints of shakiness at the back, and especially in goal, entirely exposed there. The timing and the manner of that equaliser will give Arsenal plenty of impetus.

41 min GOAL!! Arsenal 1 Dortmund 1 (Giroud) Ramsey finds Sagna in space on the right-hand flank. Decent, if optimistic cross towards the edge of the six yard box, where Subotic and Weidenfeller get into a fearful mess. Minor touch from Subotic, cannons off Weidenfeller, neither claims it, it breaks for Giroud who smashes it pleasingly into the empty net.

40 min Mertesacker penalised harshly for climbing on Lewandowski. Reus tries to do something clever from the free kick but produces something pointless instead. Arsenal back on the ball, and coming to life a little now...

38 min Rosicky shot cleared off the line! Giroud doing more than his fair share up front for Arsenal, looks for Özil in the middle from the left, close to the byline, it's cleared as far as Rosicky who tries a low shot through traffic on the half-volley. Beats everyone except Hummels, who's on the line to clear. Back to Giroud on the left, his cross beats a bunched-up Dortmund defence, but also sails over Özil.

36 min Vague chances at either end. Arsenal looking quite decent defensively, but lacking much in central midfield to stop Dortmund from getting forward. They're tangibly weaker without Flamini. Some saying it's Wilshere's troublesome ankle, not his Achilles, that he's hurt. Among them our own Ben Rumsby:

34 min Wilshere's able to help a ball wide right to Sagna. He crosses reasonably from deep, Weidenfeller's favourite against Giroud and duly claims it. Arsenal brighter, but still yet to click in any meaningful way. I'm going to give this sign a generous 4/10:

32 min Wilshere's back on the pitch now after a long period off it and lying down. He's not moving with confidence. Ramsey has a shot from 25 yards that's pure Aaron Ramsey 2011, meek and wide.

30 min The far more relevant news than Wilshere nearly being able to have a shot, is that it looks like he might have knackered his Achilles. He immediately went down grimacing, and clutching the back of his ankle, despite not being touched by the Dortmund keeper:

29 min Best bit of Arsenal play so far, Rosicky lifts a deft pass over the Dortmund defence. Wilshere is in behind, but the ball's marginally ahead of him. He pressures Weidenfeller all the same, but can't quite get there.

27 min Gah, Wilshere wastes a presentable chance to break, misjudging Rosicky's overlapping run down the right flank and giving it straight to Sahin. We're several light years away from his goal at the weekend at the moment, Arsenal barely look capable of stringing four passes together, let alone 12, all volleys, that lead to the best goal of the millennium.

25 min Some perking up now, from Arsenal and their support. Giroud lifted the crowd with that beefy barge which brought about the free kick.

22 minShout for an Arsenal penalty! Giroud bullies Schmelzer off the ball on the right-hand side and heads to the box. Hummels clips his heels. He goes down in the box. Ref reckons it was on the wide line of the area. Replays indicate pure correctness.

20 min The home fans stirring some, there's a brief bit of "ARS-nal ARS-nal" in amongst the constant boom from the German supporters now. Arsenal's support might need to get their team going, but they've seen little to inspire shouting let alone inventive songs to the tune of Pet Shop Boys songs. Gibbs gets forward on the left and has time to cross... GOAL KICK! Henry Winter's thoughts:

18 min Come on then Arsenal, whaddayagat? They've been lax and limp thus far, and that complacent play from Ramsey deserved the punishment it brought.

16 min GOAL!! Arsenal 0 Dortmund 1 (Mkhitaryan) Ramsey's faffing around close to his own box. Trying to take control of possession, but there are far better places to do it, Aaron. Reus smells blood, and the ball. He steals the latter and lays it off to Lewandowski. His pass to the spare man Mkhitaryan on the line of the box takes Koscielny and Mertesacker out of the game, and the Armenian beats Szczesny with an unerring finish into the bottom corner.

15 min Özil shown out of play across the right-hand touchline by Schmelzer as he tries to get something going that doesn't include running around in a rigid shape after men in yellow shirts that won't give you the football.

12 min Reus goes close! Swift counter-attack after another careless pass to Giroud is picked off. Reus swings one at pace across Szczesny's goal. It flashes the wrong side of the post. Not much in it. That was, quite literally, a warning shot.

11 min Arsenal still failing to even locate their key, let alone achieve ignition. Dortmund getting braver too, Mkhitaryan takes it into the box past Koscielny, but the Frenchman recovers and gets rid.

8 min This is turning into a slightly concerning start for Arsenal. They can't hang onto the ball at the minute. Grosskreutz and Blaszczykowski looking very unhurried in possession on the right-hand touchline. Gibbs eventually intervenes, but his aimless clearance is straight back to Dortmund.

6 min Massively ambitious shot from 30 yards from Hummels. No-one close to him in red and white, but his effort is high and wide. Here's Fadi Jaq with what's being called an "email":

Part of me says fluke results can’t keep happening against the Arsenal, and we will get it right this time. But the other part of me says “that train in February is never late”. COYG!!!

4 min Arsenal being crowded out when on the ball so far. Özil has been forced into some rash passes and given the ball away twice already. Dortmund only have a failed Grosskreutz cross to show for their bright start.

2 min It briefly looks like Wilshere's going to be booked for a rash challenge on Schmelzer, but it's just a Dortmund free kick in their own half instead.

1 min Here's kick-off. Arsenal get us going in the traditional style. Dortmund's kit looks as nice as it always does.

19.43 Pre-game advert time. Some videogames are coming out. Some gambling opportunities are possible. A gas company want you to think about it in the way you think about popular Christmas blubfest The Snowman. Forget all of that, and instead give it up for Darren Marshall:

<noframe>Twitter: Darren Marshall - <a href="http://www.twitter.com/thomgibbs" target="_blank">@thomgibbs</a> odd that Lee Dixon doesn't understand books. He went in them often enough...</noframe>

Wahey!

19.40 Thorough and sincere big-ups to Twitter's Marc Joss, who has shared with us his video of the Borussia support having a lovely time before kick-off this evening:

19.33 Roy Keane is here. He's smiling a bit. Adrian Chiles asks him how angry he is on a scale of one to 10 about the content of Sir Alex Ferguson's book:

I'm okay, I'm quite relaxed I think. I do remember having conversations when I was at the club about loyalty, in my opinion I don't think he knows the meaning of the word. It doesn't bother me, him constantly criticising former players but I find it very strange. I just don't think the manager needs to do it, I'm not sure how many books he's written now. He's criticising players that were top servants for Manchester United, players that brought success to the club. It's just part of modern life, people like to do books and criticise their former players.

Just to clarify then: He's definitely, definitely, not bothered.

19.20 Apparently there are 2,000 Dortmund fans already inside the ground, doing some good-natured co-ordinated jumping. This should create an above-average atmosphere the North London Airline Stadium. Will Arsenal's support match the Germans? #qtwtain

19.10 Twenty minutes left to see quite how furious Roy Keane's face will be on ITV after Alex Ferguson wrote some nasty words about him in his book. Anything less than this and I'll be disappointed:

19.00 So Tomas Rosicky plays against his former club. Bit odd to go for him ahead of Cazorla, no? Although I suppose this way round allows Arsenal to at least have one reasonably exciting option off the bench. Dortmund haven't got much in reserve either, in fairness...

18.50 I've done some scouring, liveblog fans. The fun kind of scouring, not the sort that involves sinks and scalding hot water. Scouring of a photo library. Disappointingly our archive only seems to stretch back to mid-90s. Still, you can't argue with a picture of David May. I challenge you to find me a better picture that includes David May:

Is Dortmund's Wolfgang Feiersinger having a little nap?

18.40 Is it time for the first pertinent statistical tweet of the evening from our friends at Opta? Do you even need to ask?

<noframe>Twitter: OptaJean - 15 - Mesut Ozil has delivered the most assists in the Champions League since 2010/11. Creator.</noframe>

There are MILLIONS of them! This is like England v Poland all over again...

18.20 Last time these two played oneanother in London Arsenal did a 2-1 win. Robin Van Persie scored twice, with Shinji Kagawa managing only one. Alex Ferguson bought both not long afterwards. They were truly different times:

18.10 I've seen six Dortmund fans already today and I neither live nor work anywhere near Ashburton Grove. There are rather more in the surrounding area. Here's a view from what looks like a coach near Finsbury Park station from Twitter presence @awaydays:

If it’s not the terrible start to the season and the pointlessly impressive conclusion, it’s the exact opposite.

If you're right behind project Wenger, team Red Gunners, the Great British Pass-Off, you'd clearly prefer the current state of affairs.

Beating teams with ease and flair, scoring extraordinary goals, losing very rarely, being top of the league.

But when the inevitable collapse occurs in approximately February, wouldn't it have been better to have never seen this utopia?

I've got little against Arsenal, but can't shake visions of previous implosions brought on by teams like Birmingham (twice), Stoke and Bolton.

Despite the excitement, in Arsenal's corresponding fixtures to the eight they've played in the Premier League to date, they are five points worse off than last season. (This season: defeat to Aston Villa at home and a draw away at West Brom, games that brought six points last season)

I can't see them winning the title, or doing much more than usual in the Champions League. I hope I'm a bit wrong, because they're a treat to watch at the moment.

I also feel like tonight might be a violent reality check against a Dortmund team that are still really quite good.

Perhaps not. Perhaps this year will be different. Perhaps the march continues tonight against a side not pulling up many trees in the Bundesliga. Perhaps Arsène Wenger will manage his team into the next decade and live to be 140 years old.

Shall we find out together? Team news as soon as humanly possible. Stay tuned.